Aug 24, 2005

I'm talking and I can't shut up!

At the risk of sounding hypocritical, why can't right wing pundits ever just shut up?

Pat Robertson today decided to "apologize" for saying the U.S. should assasinate Chavez. I don't really see the big deal about his original remarks. We live in a country where it is alleged that free speech is revered.

Whenever somebody says something controversial and then "takes it back" you've got to wonder about their sanity.

Rush Limbaugh attempted to back out of his own stupid comments by telling his listeners that they hadn't actually heard him say what he said the day before. That's pretty funny. But that's Rush for you. 100% chutspah, 0% kosher.... Unfortunately, most of his listeners believe him. He at least didn't apologize. Of course given his numerous criticisms of those who offer vacant apologies, he had little choice but to claim the statements, over which he was so thoroughly criticized, were never uttered.

Trent Lott is another of the right-wingers who hasn't got the sense to just shut up or stand up. Back in 2002 he lost his job over his praiseful comments about Strom Thurmond. He didn't really say anything all that remarkable. The Civil Rights Act of '64 was an abomination. Thurmond, as much as I dislike him, was right to resist its passage.

The UC Berkeley Daily Californian apologized back in 2001 for running an ad saying that reperations for slavery was a bad idea. Perish the thought. It's a good thing they apologized. What would have happened had they stood their ground?

More recently, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) apologized for comparing Abu Gahrib and Guantanamo to Soviet Gulags. No, he's not a right winger, and he's to the left of Stalin himself, but he was right. Why apologize? Because, like his right-wing counterparts, he's not sincere about what he says.

I sometimes wonder if the "right wingers" aren't doing their best to destroy what's left of the old classical liberals and paleo conservatives. Both Rush and Lott have marginalized the libertarian leaning conservatives and constantly promote collectivist ideas, passing them off as inherently conservative. Wasn't it democrat FDR who brought us so many of the welfare programs Rush and other republicans are today legitimizing?

And then there are the folks who should actually apologize. Like President Bush for insance who is responsible for the deaths of around 30,000 Iraqi civilians, killed due to false pretext. Will it ever happen? It's about as likely as the U.S. ever withdrawing troops from the more than 190 countries in which they are stationed.